PERTH (miningweekly.com) – The Institute for Vitality Economics and Monetary Evaluation (IEEFA) has labled oil and gasoline main Santos’ Barossa undertaking as economically and environmentally ‘unviable’.
Santos lately misplaced an enchantment within the Full Federal Court docket towards a September resolution by the Federal Court docket to put aside the acceptance by the Nationwide Offshore Petroleum Security and Environmental Administration Authority (NOPSEMA) of an environmental plan masking the drilling and completion actions in relation to the Barossa gasoline undertaking.
The Federal Court docket’s resolution was primarily based on a discovering that NOPSEMA couldn’t be lawfully glad that the drilling surroundings plan met the factors required by the laws and specifically did not assess whether or not the drilling surroundings plan demonstrated that Santos consulted with every person who it was required by the laws to seek the advice of with.
Santos has maintained that the corporate had consulted with Conventional House owners and their consultant our bodies on the Barossa gasoline undertaking since 2016 and can proceed to take action, making an allowance for the steerage supplied by the Court docket.
The corporate additionally stated that it didn’t anticipate any materials value or schedule affect from the Federal Court docket resolution, and first gasoline from the Barossa gasoline undertaking stays on observe to be delivered within the first half of 2025.
A report from the IEEFA on Tuesday known as into query Santos’ environmental claims across the undertaking, claiming as a substitute that the undertaking would produce Australia’s dirtiest gasoline.
“Barossa gasoline is the dirtiest gasoline used to make liquefied natura gasoline (LNG) in Australia, when it comes to its 18 quantity p.c carbon dioxide content material. It’s thrice larger than the practically depleted Bayu-Undan gasoline that the Darwin LNG plant at present processes. Barossa’s CO2 content material is six occasions larger than within the gasoline processed within the North West Shelf LNG plant in Western Australia.
“Consequently, on completion of its Barossa gasoline to Darwin LNG ‘backfill’ improvement, as described initially and accredited, the Barossa LNG undertaking would have produced LNG with an emissions depth of 1.5 t/CO2 per tonne of LNG, which is twice the present common for the Australian LNG business.
“Santos has proposed utilizing carbon seize and storage (CCS) to sequester a portion of the emissions to counter the criticism that it’s constructing ‘a CO2 manufacturing unit with an LNG by-product’. Nevertheless, this would depart much more emissions – from combustion to energy the LNG course of and piping CO2 for 800km across the Timor Sea,” the report acknowledged.
The IEEFA claimed that Santos was utilizing the Bayu-Undan CCS undertaking as a justification for an ‘unapproved and unjustifiable’ undertaking, including that Barrossa was not viable.
Moreover, the report famous that whereas the Barosssa undertaking was some 46% full, the Northern Territory authorities was but to approve the 10-million tonne a 12 months Bayu-Undan CCS undertaking.
“Going ahead, Santos should now run the approvals course of for the entire undertaking with CCS facets and submit an environmental affect assertion (EIS) for its Bayu-Undan CCS on the identical time whether it is to be seen as appearing in good religion.
“Santos should reveal how CCS would have an effect on the emissions and have it accredited by NOPSEMA, the Northern Territory Environmental Safety Authority, the Tiwi individuals and the Timor-Leste authorities earlier than it proceeds with building,” the report stated.
Santos MD and CEO Kevin Gallagher in June instructed the Timor-Leste Vitality and Mining Summit that the Bayu-Undan CCS undertaking had the potential to be the catalyst for the event of different fields within the area and that the Barossa undertaking may very well be the muse buyer, delivering 2.3-million tonnes of CO2 per 12 months, making Barossa one of many lowest-carbon depth LNG initiatives on this planet.
The Barossa undertaking includes a floating manufacturing, storage and offloading (FPSO) vessel, subsea manufacturing wells, supporting subsea infrastructure and a gasoline export pipeline tied into the prevailing Bayu-Undan to Darwin LNG pipeline.
Santos and its Barossa JV companions additionally lately took a closing funding resolution to proceed with the Darwin pipeline duplication course of, which might prolong the Barossa gasoline export pipeline to the Santos-operated Darwin liquefied pure gasoline (DLNG) facility and permit for the repurposing of the prevailing Bayu-Undan to Darwin pipeline to facilitate CCS choices.
Fuel from the Barossa area, situated 300 km north of Darwin, is meant to switch the present provide from the Bayu-Undan facility situated in Timor-Leste.
First gasoline manufacturing at DLNG utilizing Barossa gasoline is focused for the primary half of 2025.
Santos was unavailable for remark on the time of writing.
